A tort is a civil wrong arising from an act or failure to act, independently of any contact, for which an action for personal injury or property damages may be brought. It deals with situations where a person’s behaviour has unfairly caused someone else to suffer loss or harm. A person who suffers a tortious act is entitled to receive compensation for “damages”, usually money payment from the person or people responsible.
The tort of negligence is a type of civil wrong where a contract does not exists between two parties and it is not a crime where punishment is the main objective to the offender. For example, trespass on private property or nuisance behaviour, these have no contract between the claimant and defendant and are dealt with under tort.
In tort there must be four elements: 1, Duty of care, 2, Breach of legal duty, 3, Loss suffered and 4, causation.
For the case to succeed the claimant must show the following: 1, There was duty of care, 2, There was breach of the duty, 3, Negligence was the main cause.
Damages are split into two broad categories:
1, Special damages – are damages that are quantifiable (E.g. loss of earnings, hospitals bills etc.).
2, General damages – are damages that are less easily quantifiable and more subjective. They include elements for pain and suffering, loss of amenity and enjoyment of life, future health problems etc.
Not all types of loss are recognised by the Law of negligence, for example the claimant cannot receive compensation for upset and inconvenience. Nominally the types of loss recognised as being cable of being claimed are: Physical damage to the person or property of the plaintiff, Consequential economic damage, Nervous shock and psychological damage.
The neighbour principle explains how we should apply reasonable care not to injure or harm anyone, who comes into direct relationship with us or with whom we are involved with. The concept of the neighbour relationship